Chapter 14 (Ava)

I stared at the wall next to me in silence. I’d been in the Hospital Wing all day and I was exhausted. I was too terrified to go back to sleep though.

Footsteps sounded behind me.

“Ava?”

I didn’t respond- I just carried on staring at the wall, hoping that whoever was standing behind me would think I was asleep.

“I know you’re awake, there’s no point pretending.”

Draco.

I stayed silent. He stepped closer and sighed,

“I heard you screaming last night.”

I muttered bitterly,

“Who didn’t?”

Draco ignored my comment and took a deep breath,

“What happened?”

I rolled over onto my back and stared at the ceiling above me. I tried to keep my breathing even as I said,

“It was just a nightmare.”

Draco gulped,

“I’ve been so worried about you all day.”

I closed my eyes for a moment and whispered,

“No, Draco. You haven’t been worried about me. You’ve been worried that I would have been unfit to complete my mission.”

He tried to interrupt me,

“That’s not true!”

I shook my head,

“If we didn’t share these missions, you wouldn’t even talk to me. All I would be to you is ‘Potter’s sister’. You only became friends with me last year so you could betray me. If you hadn’t been given that mission in the first place, you wouldn’t have dared to approach me apart from to bully me.”

Tears filled my eyes as I imagined how my first year at Hogwarts could have been if Draco had just left me alone. I would have spent so much more time with my true friends.

Draco reached his hand out towards me, but I sat up and turned my head away from him,

“You should leave. Visiting hours haven’t started yet.”

He glanced up at the clock,

“They start in five minutes.”

“And if Madam Pomfrey catches you in here a second before visiting hours, she will tell you off.”

Draco sighed,

“Ava, I care about you-”

I blinked back tears,

“You only care about yourself, Draco.”

He watched me for a moment in silence before turning and walking away. The Hospital Wing doors slammed behind him and I laid my head back down on the pillow.

Madam Pomfrey walked in and started to bustle about, giving potions to other students and changing bed sheets. After a few minutes, she walked over to me,

“Have you had any sleep, Miss. Potter?”

I hesitated for a moment before nodding,

“For a couple of hours.”

The truth was that I was too scared to go to sleep. What if I had another nightmare, more horrific than the last?

Madam Pomfrey narrowed her eyes at me. She looked like she didn’t believe me, but just as she opened her mouth to ask if I was lying, Professor Dumbledore walked into the Hospital Wing. He looked at me and nodded,

“Good afternoon, Miss. Potter. How are we doing?”

I managed a small smile,

“Okay, thank you Professor. To be honest, I don’t think I need to be staying in for much longer. This sort of thing has happened before and-”

Professor Dumbledore stepped towards me,

“It’s happened before? How long ago?”

Madam Pomfrey walked over to another one of the students in the room and started talking to them quietly. I sighed,

“It was- it was last year just before Christmas. I don’t think it was as bad as this time though. I used to have nightmares about the night Lord Voldemort killed my parents.”

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow,

“But not anymore?”

I shook my head,

“Not anymore. I have them about other things now.”

“What was it that made you wake up last time?”

I gulped,

“The nightmare finished.”

And Fred had been holding me in his arms.

Professor Dumbledore thought for a couple of seconds before saying,

“Perhaps you should ask Professor Snape to mix a potion for you that will help you sleep. I’m sure he’d be more than willing.”

I raised an eyebrow,

“Do you think?”

He nodded,

“Of course. Professor Snape is always ready to help a student when they are in need. I will ask him this evening when I return to the Great Hall.”

I smiled gratefully,

“Thank you, Professor!”

He cleared his throat,

“I must be on my way now, Ava. I hope to see you out of the Hospital Wing soon.”

I nodded and he left the room silently. Madam Pomfrey walked back over to me,

“Well, Miss. Potter, if you’re saying that you have had some sleep today, then I suppose Professor Dumbledore will be seeing you sooner than he expected. I can discharge you now and you may go to dinner in the Great Hall with the other students. However, if you have the same reactions to a nightmare like you had last night, we may have to be keeping you under inspection for a longer period of time.”

I gulped,

“Thank you! Will I need to retrieve my robes from my dormitory?”

She shook her head,

“No, I sent for them earlier on. You can get changed just behind that screen.”

She pointed to a white piece of material stretched between two thin pieces of wood. I pulled the covers off and got out of the bed I had spent the whole day in. Unsurprisingly, my legs felt tired and a bit stiff. I stretched them out a little as I reached for my robes and walked behind the screen.

I got changed quickly into the fresh, clean clothes and pulled my hair into a side plait to get it out of the way. I reached my hand into my pocket and made sure that my wand was there. It had recently become a habit of mine to check that I had my wand on me. I needed to protect myself if another student attempted to betray me to Lord Voldemort. When Draco had chased after me and stunned me, I hadn’t been prepared. Now, I knew I would be.

I walked out from behind the screen and thanked Madam Pomfrey,

“If I have any more problems, you can trust that I’ll come to you.”

She smiled,

“Well, I hope for your sake that I won’t be seeing you anytime soon.”

I walked towards the exit of the Hospital Wing and turned right into the corridor. It was fairly empty, so I could walk quickly to the Great Hall in peace.

When I got to the doors of the Great Hall, there were a lot more people around me, chatting and laughing with each other as they sat down.

The moment I walked in, the atmosphere in the hall changed and everyone started to whisper. My cheeks turned red. Someone stepped out in front of me and I looked up nervously, wondering if it was Draco. I instantly relaxed when I realised it was my brother.

“Harry.”

I stepped towards him and wrapped my arms around him tightly. He breathed a sigh of relief into my ear and I smiled. He pulled away and grinned at me,

“Madam Pomfrey let you out then?”

I shrugged,

“What was the point of keeping me in? I’m pretty sure everyone has nightmares.”

I glanced behind Harry’s shoulder for just a moment and saw Draco watching me. The moment we made eye contact, he looked away and started to talk to Pansy.

And I could tell from the expression on Draco’s face that he was frustrated with me.